7. Submissions on Behalf of the Department of Health Northern Ireland by Ms Murnaghan KC

Ms Murnaghan: My Lady, I appear on behalf of the Department of Health in Northern Ireland.

By this opening statement, the department again wishes to take the opportunity to express its profound condolences to the families and friends of everyone who died due to Covid-19.

It should be understood that at all times during the pandemic the department’s overriding priority was to minimise the loss of life. The loss of life and the individuals and the families involved must remain at the forefront of everyone’s thoughts throughout this Inquiry. This is also an opportune moment to again praise the bravery, commitment and professionalism of health and social care workers across Northern Ireland.

Quite properly, much, my Lady, has been made of the unprecedented challenges that Covid-19 brought to bear on governments and on policymakers. However, it must not be forgotten that the most acute pressures were experienced on the frontline. That has been said before, my Lady, but it bears repetition.

This opening statement will confine itself to some overarching comments about the department’s response to Covid-19, given that in this module the Inquiry will focus on vital decisions which were made at pace during the biggest public health crisis of all of our lifetimes.

The examination by this Inquiry can be expected to bring to light tensions which will inevitably have developed over the best approach that should have been taken. The department is, of course, fully supportive of the Inquiry process and stands ready to learn any lessons whatsoever, however painful these may be.

It must also be said that Covid-19 brought unparalleled pressures for governments across the world. The Inquiry will be mindful that the pandemic represented a baptism of fire for our fledgling five-party coalition which was heading a devolved administration in a relatively small part of the UK.

My Lady, you will be well aware of the limitations faced by all policymakers at this time, with immediate decisions that had to be made in an environment of severe global uncertainty and incomplete information.

The department would also emphasise that all too often the task was not to make the right decision, but to make the least wrong one. Near impossible choices were required.

Throughout the pandemic, the department has been very mindful of the consequences, including the health consequences, of decisions made on issues such as school closures and the shutdown of large swathes of the economy.

This department remains convinced, however, given the prevailing circumstances, that the lockdown and the other non-pharmaceutical interventions were the best available option at key junctures. But it also acknowledges that these measures came at a heavy cost and that all decision-makers had to grapple with truly awful dilemmas.

The Inquiry has quite properly been examining the impact of political instability in Northern Ireland in relation to pandemic preparedness. It was, of course, far from ideal, to say the least, that Northern Ireland had been without an Executive for some three years prior to 2020. Moreover, Northern Ireland’s health service was, in many key respects, the most fragile of the four UK nations at the time when Covid-19 arrived on our shores.

However, this should not lead inexorably to the conclusion that Northern Ireland’s response to Covid-19 was an outlier in UK Government terms or indeed was the sick man of the Kingdom. In that respect, the department concurs with the analysis of Professor Hale in his report, as referenced this morning by Counsel to the Inquiry in her opening statement.

As my Lady will be aware, Professor Hale was instructed by the Inquiry to analyse the effectiveness of decision-making in the UK and of each devolved administration in respect of the Covid-19 pandemic in comparison with other countries.

In the course of his detailed assessment, Professor Hale noted that in comparison Northern Ireland fared better than all other parts of the UK in terms of the pandemic’s impact, in that its deaths were ranked 34th in Europe.

Of course, the department also acknowledges that there will be multiple and complex causal factors behind these statistics, and that simplistic interpretations must be avoided. We also, I would say, guard against any complacency.

Additionally, it is essential of course to be constantly reminded that behind every single Covid fatality statistic, it is an individual whose life was cut short, who has left behind grief-stricken relatives and friends.

I would also draw the Inquiry’s attention to the report it commissioned from Professor Anne-Marie Gray and Professor Karl O’Connor. That report included the telling observation that during the pandemic too much pressure was placed on one department, that of health. It may be that history is now inevitably repeating itself in that regard.

Northern Ireland was tested as never before by Covid-19. The virus could have been a public health crisis too far for a new administration and the society that it serves. The Department of Health maintains that the local community and, not least, the health service and other public servants, met the challenges of the pandemic with resolve, dexterity, compassion and solidarity. There are, of course, key questions to answer, inevitable shortcomings to be examined, and multiple what ifs. That is why we are all here.

However, the scale of the Covid response which was deployed should be recognised along with the countless hours of work and the all too many agonising dilemmas which were forced upon those making decisions.

The department has already today paid tribute to our health and social care workers, but we would also wish to praise the wider community across Northern Ireland and its response to the pandemic. The unparalleled sacrifices that were made across society should not go unheralded. Lives were put on hold for extended periods to protect the vulnerable and safeguard the health service, and for that, my Lady, the department wishes to thank them all.

Thank you.

Lady Hallett: Thank you very much indeed, Ms Murnaghan.

Mr Coll.